Effective wheel washing is often an important part of a commercial car wash operation, particularly as many automobiles are now purchased with premium wheels that add significantly to vehicle aesthetics.
Wheel washing was, at one time, performed manually, using brushes and soapy water. More recently, wheel washing is performed by spraying cleaning and rinsing fluids onto the wheels under pressure. An example of a spray-type wheel washer is found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,971,594 issued Jul. 5, 2011 and assigned to Belanger, Inc. of Northville, Mich. The washer described in this patent places spray heads in structures located in the lower ends of long pendulum arms that swing the spray heads along an arc as a vehicle wheel moves through a wheel rinsing location.